* Beckett, Chris : Dark Eden
(UK: Corvus 978-1848874633, £18.99, 400pp, hardcover, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Sun 1 Jan 2012

SF novel about a community of colonists on a sunless planet who cling to the hope that rescuers from Earth will someday arrive.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• The author’s site has this description with quotes from reviews and links to background articles.
• Stuart Kelly reviewed it for The Guardian: “a superior piece of theologically nuanced science fiction”.

• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

‡ Christopher, Adam : Empire State
(UK: Angry Robot 978-0857661920, £7.99, 416pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 5 Jan 2012

Steampunk superhero SF novel, the author’s first novel, set in an alternate 1950s New York.
• Angry Robot’s site has this description.
• This is the first UK edition; the US edition was published 9 days earlier, on 27 Dec 2011.

• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

* Esslemont, Ian C. : Orb Sceptre Throne
(UK: Bantam 978-0593064504, £20, 608pp, hardcover, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 19 Jan 2012
• Malazan-Esslemont #4

Fantasy novel set in the Malazan Empire, the world co-created by Esslemont and Steven Erikson, author of the 10-volume Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
• This is the fourth book by Esslemont, following Stonewielder (2010).
• The publisher’s site has this page with a synopsis and links to references on blogs.
• The US edition from Tor is scheduled for May 22nd.

• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

‡ Fowler, Christopher : Hell Train
(UK: Solaris 978-1907992438, £7.99, 272pp, trade paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 5 Jan 2012

Horror novel about a writer who comes up with the script for a mid-60s Hammer Film Production starring Peter Cushing, based on a board game about people aboard a mysterious train.
• Solaris’ site has this description.
• This is the first UK edition; the US edition was published 9 days earlier, on 27 Dec 2011.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review: “The shocks never stop coming, bolstered by crisp writing and well-defined, sympathetic characters.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

‡ Fultz, John R : Seven Princes
(UK: Little, Brown Uk/Orbit 978-0356500812, £7.99, 480pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 5 Jan 2012
• Books of the Shaper #1

Fantasy novel, the author’s first novel and first of a trilogy, in which an ancient sorcerer overruns the kingdom of Yaskatha.
• Orbit’s site has this post about the book’s release, with a link to an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review notes that “Fultz attempts to marry the scope of doorstop fantasy with the lush language of Clark Ashton Smith…”
• This is the first UK edition; the US edition was published 9 days earlier, on 27 Dec 2011.

• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

* Herter, David : One Who Disappeared
(UK: PS Publishing 978-1-848630-33-8, £19.99, hardcover, December 2011, cover art Vlad Verano)

Historical SF time travel novel, third in a sequence following On the Overgrown Path (2006) and The Luminous Depths (2008), about a group of European artists between the wars, involving Karel Capek and Leos J——.
• PS Publishing’s site has this description and order page. A limited signed hardcover edition is also available.
• Amazon UK indicates 31 Jan 2012 publication, but it’s available now from the publisher’s site, which indicates December 2011 publication.

• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

* Hughes, Matthew : The Yellow Cabochon
(UK: PS Publishing 978-1-848632-90-5, £11.99, hardcover, January 2012)

SF novella about Luff Imbry, a corpulent master thief and forger of Old Earth’s penultimate age, one of a sequence of works about this character.
• Not yet listed on Amazon UK, the PS Publishing site has this description and order page.
• The author’s site has this excerpt.

• (Directory Entry)

* McAuley, Paul : In the Mouth of the Whale
(UK: Gollancz 978-0-575-10073-2, £18.99, 376pp, hardcover, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 19 Jan 2012
• Quiet War #3

SF novel, follow-on to the two-book sequence The Quiet War (2008) and Gardens of the Sun (2009) , set some 1500 years later in a system of worlds orbiting the star Fomalhaut.
• McAuley’s website has this description, with links to several chapters posted online.
• A US edition is not yet scheduled.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed it in the December 2011 issue of Locus Magazine: “More than the Quiet War stories, In the Mouth of the Whale seems to illustrate some of the ideas and aesthetics that McAuley and others were calling ‘radical hard SF’ more than two decades ago, with versions of humanity and posthumanity battling it out in a spectacular series of extrasolar settings that are as astronomically precise (and at times numbingly detailed) as he can make them.”

(Mon 23 Jan 2012)
• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

* Meaney, John : Transmission
(UK: Gollancz 978-0575085350, £18.99, 432pp, hardcover, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 19 Jan 2012
• Ragnorak #2

SF novel, second in the “Ragnorak” space opera trilogy following Absorption (2010), which connects Norse mythology to the universe of dark matter.
• Gollancz’ site has this description.
• Meaney also writes as Thomas Blackthorne.
• Amazon UK’s “Look Inside” function provides an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

* Nicholls, Stan : Orcs: Bad Blood III: Inferno
(UK: Gollancz 978-0575078079, £18.99, 304pp, hardcover, December 2011)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 29 Dec 2011
• Orcs: Bad Blood #3

Fantasy novel, third volume in the author’s second “Orcs” trilogy following Orcs: Bad Blood I: Weapons of Magical Destruction (2008) and Orcs: Bad Blood II: Army of Shadows (2009), and earlier “Orcs: First Blood” trilogy.
• The author’s Wikipedia page has lists of titles.
• Gollancz’ site has this description.

• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

* Rees, Rod : The Demi-Monde: Spring
(UK: Quercus/Jo Fletcher 978-1849165020, £18.99, 576pp, hardcover, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 5 Jan 2012
• Demi-Monde #2

SF thriller, second in a series of four, following The Demi-Mode: Winter (UK 2010, US Jan 2012), about a virtual reality, created to train soldiers and run by cyber-duplicates of historical tyrants.
• A US edition is not yet scheduled.
• The Jo Fletcher Books site does not yet have a page for this book.
• The author’s site has this post about the book.
• The Amazon UK page has a “Look Inside” function providing a preview.

• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

* Reynolds, Alastair : Blue Remembered Earth
(UK: Gollancz 978-0575088276, £18.99, 505pp, hardcover, January 2012, jacket illustration Dominic Harman)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 19 Jan 2012
• Akinya #1

SF novel, first of a trilogy, following the Akinya family across 10,000 years to the dawn of galactic civilization.
• Gollancz’ site has this description. The Gollancz blog has several posts and excerpts from the book.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed it in the December 2011 issue of Locus Magazine, considering it an example of “Phase Space space opera”, combining aspects of ‘new space opera’ and traditional adventure space opera. He writes, “Despite a plot hook that could as easily power a YA franchise (a dying matriarch leaves behind a series of mysterious clues, each of which leads toward more portentous implicaitons), Reynolds both develops a richly detailed portrait of a resurgent, postapocalyptic Earth society and economy, and leaves himself plenty of room to expand his narrative space exponentially… “

(Mon 23 Jan 2012)
• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

‡ Sebold, Gaie : Babylon Steel
(UK: Rebellion/Solaris 978-1907992377, £7.99, 448pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 5 Jan 2012
• Babylon #1

Fantasy novel, the author’s first novel and first of a series, about a woman who runs the best brothel in Scalentine, a city where many races and religions come together.
• Solaris’ site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• This is the first UK edition; the US edition was published 9 days earlier, on 27 Dec 2011.

• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

‡ Wells, Jaye : Silver-Tongued Devil
(UK: Little, Brown Uk/Orbit 978-0356500744, £7.99, 432pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 5 Jan 2012
• Sabina Kane #4

Urban fantasy novel, fourth in the series about half-vampire, half-mage Sabina Kane, an assassin for her vampire rulers, following Red-Headed Stepchild (2009), The Mage in Black (2010), and Green-Eyed Demon (2011)
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• This is the first UK edition; the US edition was published 9 days earlier, on 27 Dec 2011.

• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)

‡ Whates, Ian : City of Light and Shadow
(UK: Angry Robot 978-0857661890, £7.99, 416pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 5 Jan 2012
• City of a Hundred Rows #3

Fantasy novel, third in a series following City of Dreams and Nightmares (2010) and City of Hope and Despair (2011), set in the ancient vertical city of Thaiburley.
• Angry Robot’s site has this description. This is the first UK edition; the US edition was published 9 days earlier, on 27 Dec 2011.

• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)